Rapunzel
by LightningBSoul
Summary: This is not the version of Rapunzel that you are used to! GW chara's take the roles in this classic fairytale with a big twist! Disclaimer: I did not create Heero, Duo, Relena, or the story of Rapunzel. ^-^


Once upon a time there was a handsome prince who lived in a kingdom in an anime fantasy world. He had gorgeous dark brown hair, with bangs slightly in his face. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, and although sometimes they glared at someone in such a way that said "Omae wo korosu," one could see the true kindness deep inside him. He was Prince Heero.  
Unfortunately, he had been put into a prearranged marriage when he was very young, so at 17 he was to wed an ugly princess. She had boring dark blonde hair with two small braids that wrapped around the rest of her hair and were fixed in such a prissy way. Her name was Princess Relena. She was so anxious that she would stalk him, but the prince found this to be quite annoying. He always found some way to avoid seeing her face.  
  
Finally the time came. On Heero's 17th birthday, he had to go to Relena's kingdom and he rode his beautiful white horse. There was a promenade and all the civillians watched and welcomed Prince Heero and his court. As his royal horse, named Tsubasa, marched through the town, Heero happened to glance in one direction and saw the most beautiful being he'd ever seen. He saw a beautiful maiden with sparkling blue eyes and the most gorgeous smile stretched ear to ear with the excitement of the royal promenade. Her long brown bangs danced in the breeze, and when she noticed the Prince looking at her, she brushed them back behind her ears. As Heero passed her by, he smiled at her, and she smiled back and blushed a little bit. Little did she know that she was one of the few people he had ever smiled at. Little did either of them know that Relena soon heard of this smile, and ran off with her escorts on a little "errand".  
When Heero and his royal court arrived at Relena's palace in the late afternoon, it was announced that Relena had left to take care of some personal matter, and that she would return shortly. To kill time, Heero went out riding with Tsubasa. They started off toward the forest. Tsubasa jumped gallantly over obstacles and galloped swiftly through the trees with its powerful muscles, its gorgeous white mane flowing gracefully behind it.  
By nightfall, Relena was making her return. She rode a brown horse that was almost as ugly as herself. It galloped awkwardly through the forest, barely making it over fallen trees. Excessive drool flew out of its mouth, and its mane flapped obnoxiously in Relena's face with each bouncy stride.  
When Relena's horse and her escort's horses neared Heero, Tsubasa was terrified by the ugliness and shrill neighing of Relena's horse and began to run away. It would not obey Heero and ran deep into the dark forest, where Heero later found himself lost after his horse slowed down. Heero did not know in which direction to go; but then he heard a noise, a beautiful noise, and he became curious. It was a song being sung by a sweet sounding maiden, and completely forgetting his current situation, Heero was drawn into it. He soon found himself in a small clearing where the moonlight shone brightly through the trees. There stood an old tower with one window at the top. Heero got off of his horse and stood listening to the bold, bright, female voice coming from the top of the tower. "It's so all right, maybe too right..." she sang; but in the middle of the verse she stopped, for she saw heero. "Hey, you're the prince, aren't ya? Whatcha doin' out in the middle of nowhere? Are you lost?" she asked in a jovial, bouncy voice.  
Heero immediately recognized her as the girl he'd seen during the promenade. "I've been lost since the day I was born," he muttered to himself, thinking of his prearranged marriage to Relena.  
"Well, you're not lost anymore. You found me!" She grinned at him. "Yup, little ol' Duo, locked away into a lonely empty tower for all eternity," she said sarcastically. "But now you're here, so I might as well enjoy a conversation with you!"  
~So her name is Duo,~ thought Heero. "Why do you sing such an upbeat song if you've been imprizoned in that tower?"  
"Well, I figure that if I sing loud enough, eventually someone's gonna come along and rescue me. Besides, if I'm gonna stay here for a while I might as well keep a good mood about it. No point in being upset until then. Always the optimist - that's me in a nutshell!" There was a short pause. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you come up here and talk to me?"  
Heero tried the door at the base of the tower. It was securely locked. "How can I? There's no way up."  
"Sure there is," she said, and she lowered an enormously long braid that nearly touched the ground. "Climb! I swear my hair is sturdy as a rope!" So Prince Heero climbed up the maiden's thick healthy braid to meet her.  
"Who on earth would give a beautiful girl like you a punishment so harsh?" he asked her.  
"Uhh...heh...I don't think I should tell you."  
"Please do. Whoever has done this horrible thing to you deserves a punishment ten times worse."  
"Yikes. I better keep quiet, then; I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for the unhappiness of the Prince's marriage," she muttered to herself.  
"What?! No...don't tell me it was...!"  
"Yup, your fiance. Princess Relena. When she heard that we had smiled at each other like that, she got jealous and was afraid that I'd steal you away. Not like I'd really do anything, I mean come on, you're already engaged to her! She doesn't have a thing to worry about! Geez, what a weirdo...."  
"So this was her little 'errand', was it?" He had a look upon his face as though he wanted to kill her. Duo thought he looked kind of cute like that. "How can I get you out of here?"  
"Well," began Duo, "the only thing I can think of is if you get the key away from Relena. Other than that, there's no way. I mean, I can't very well climb down my own braid." She giggled.  
"Ninmu ryoukai. My lovely maiden, I will return here everyday, with or without the key, just to see you; and when I do finally possess it I will grant you your freedom and make you my bride instead of Relena."  
"Oh, wow! I...I don't know what to say...." Duo blushed a little bit, and then she threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Domo arigato, Heero-kun! I'll look forward to seeing you every day!"  
  
Prince Heero was a man of his word, and returned every night to visit Duo. When the ugly and very prissy Princess Relena finally learned what was happening (about two weeks later), she became enraged. She rode her ugly brown horse into the forest and to the tower. She unlocked the door, and Duo mistook it for her prince come to save her so she ran down the flights of stairs, just to meet ugly Relena with a massive pair of scizzors! And what do you think she did? She chopped of Duo's gorgeous long braid, and Duo burst into tears. Then Relena told her to run deep into the forest and never come in contact with Heero again, or she would shave her bald, and so Duo did as she was told.  
With Duo out of the way, Relena cooked up a nasty little plan. She locked the door again and climbed up to the top chamber where Duo had been trapped. When Heero came, she didn't let him see her face, but let down Duo's long braid. Heero sure enough climbed it, and to his surprize met Relena face to face.  
He was so shocked that he went blind from her ugliness.  
He then slid down the braid so fast that Relena lost her grip when Heero reached the bottom. He called Tsubasa to him, and when he mounted it he cried, "What have you done with Duo?!!"  
"I have sent her away into the forest. You will never find her, especially not in the state you're in!"  
"I swear it, Relena, I will find her; and then, I will kill you!"  
Relena gasped in horror. "But Heero!" Heero rode Tsubasa off into the unknown woods and Relena flew down the stairs to catch up with him; but when she reached the door, she realized she had locked herself in.  
  
Heero traveled for many days, through sun and storms, hoping that he would by chance come across Duo, for he was blind and therefore could not search for her. And what luck he had, for one day he heard a beautiful enchanting voice, "It's so all right, maybe too right...." and immediately recognized it. He directed Tsubasa toward the song, calling out Duo's name. She heard him, and began to search for him while calling back; soon enough, she saw him upon his white horse, which had lost a bit of it's magnificent look from days of endless searching. She was so happy she began to cry, and ran up to Heero as fast as she could. When Heero dismounted his horse, she noticed he was blind, and began to cry out of sadness. But her tears fell upon his eyes, and suddenly he was surprized by the image of a short-haired Duo - he could see again! And Duo of course was happy once again. And with Relena locked in the tower, it was safe to return to the kingdom.  
After they returned, and the king and queen showed their affection for their lost Prince, they told the whole story to the royal families. Heero was then given permission to wed Duo, and she was given a strong black horse with a gorgeous mane and braided tail which she named Shinigami. Duo, having been married to a prince, was now a Princess, and together she and Heero rode into the sunset and lived happily ever after.   



End file.
